Do you really believe Spezza and Benn won’t get selected to Canada’s Olympic team if they get off to sizzling starts next season?

The orientation camp gives management and coaches an early opportunity to assess the players chemistry as potential teammates as well as their skills. Most of those invited to camp aren’t locks to make the Olympic team.

If Spezza and/or Benn are among the NHL scoring leaders by late-November, don’t be surprised if one or both end up on Team Canada.

I know Alex Hemsky is a talented playmaker, but why would an NHL general manager trade for him right now?

Hemksy’s one year away from UFA status, will earn $5 million this season, and has a lengthy injury history. Good luck selling a GM on parting with an asset or two to land him this summer. The only way I see it happening is if the Oilers pick up half his salary.

Most GMs probably won’t have serious interest in Hemsky until the mid-point of next season, and only if he’s healthy and putting up decent numbers.

Leiweke claimed he meant no disrespect to Leafs alumni, but wanted to put the focus on the current roster.

He also sang the praises of the club’s history. “It is 100 years that is unbelievable and, quite frankly with the exception of maybe the Canadiens, unmatched”

The exception of “maybe” the Canadiens, Tim? Really?

Yes, the Leafs have a long, notable history (especially from the 1930s to the mid-60s) but there’s no “maybe” when it comes to the Canadiens being the exception. No other team in the NHL has a history like the Habs. Indeed, the mediocrity which has dogged Les Canadiens over the past twenty years explains why their fans have in recent years loudly trumpeted that history.

While I understand Leiweke is trying to improve the Leafs culture, it’s always a good idea to commemorate previous achievements, even those of a rapidly fading past.

Worse, however, was Leiweke publicly talking about planning the Stanley Cup parade route. It makes him look ridiculous and should the Leafs struggle, such “boldness” only provides fodder for his critics. Win the Cup first, then plan the parade route.

Raymond’s a swift-skating winger with decent offensive skills, but inconsistency has plagued him in recent years, while concern lingers over the long-term effect of that back injury he suffered in the 2011 Stanley Cup Final.

What’s more interesting is no one’s snapped up former Red Wings winger Damien Brunner yet.

Granted, he’s only played the equivalent of a half-season, and his production did decline during its final weeks, though he subsequently posted a respectable nine points in 14 playoff games.

Still, I thought Brunner adapted reasonably well to the NHL last season, prompting my expectation of him getting quickly snapped up when the UFA market opened on July 5.

It’s rumored Brunner’s seeking $3.5 million per season, which would explain why he hasn’t been signed yet. With the salary cap declining, this summer’s a bad one for a player like Brunner to expect a big pay raise

He’ll likely have to accept a one-or two-year deal for less than $3 million per, and the longer this drags on, the less money he’ll get.

So, David Perron was “misunderstood” during his seasons with the St. Louis Blues. Funny how that story rarely emerged during his time with the Blues

Ditto all the stories about Tyler Seguin supposedly party animal lifestyle during his tenure with the Boston Bruins.

For all the talk of how the media doesn’t protect players as they did in the “good ol’ days”, the respective sagas of Perron and Seguin suggest some in the St. Louis and Boston press willingly turned a blind eye to their supposedly troublesome personalities.

Was it because management asked them nicely not to report it? Were there veiled hints of restricted access to the other players if unflattering stories of Perron and Seguin emerged in the media?

And if the teams actually did hide those stories from the media, why is it all coming out after the players were dealt? Are the general managers trying to justify why the trades were made by deflecting criticism onto the players?

Whatever the reasons, it’ll be interesting to see if those “issues” follow Perron and Seguin to their new teams.

2 Comments

Fred65
on July 28, 2013 at 4:46 pm

Funny the comments about media failing to report what’s in front of their own eyes. That was the case for Raymond when he was body slammed by Boychuk into the boards**, suffered ( I believe 3 broken vertabrea, requiring a long time in a boddy cast ) and yet it was never followed up. Now the hit by Rome in that same series the media hounds got onto that reall quick. I agree the media seems to get more into popularity polls than facts.

** Here’s a case when we all hear so muchabout concussions and maybe rightfully so and yet a violent case like this comes along and nothing. It’s not like players have backs broken frequently. It just doesn’t fit with what they want to project. IMO a lot of the mediabelieve they play for a eam rather than report on a team

Ranzeir
on July 31, 2013 at 4:44 pm

Jason Spezza now having Bobby Ryan playing on his wing along with Milan Michalek, assuming his knee has recovered sufficiently, should give Ottawa a very good top line. Add Eric Karlsson into the mix and their power play should produce plenty of goals. I have no doubt that Spezza’s a very proud guy so being left off the roster will no doubt give him plenty of extra motivation. I’ll be very surprised if he isn’t back in the mix come November.

“We use third-party advertising companies to serve ads when you visit our Website. These companies may use information (not including your name, address email address or telephone number) about your visits to this and other Web sites in order to provide advertisements about goods and services of interest to you. If you would like more information about this practice and to know your choices about not having this information used by these companies, http://www.networkadvertising.org/managing/opt_out.asp
“Partner of USA TODAY Sports Digital Properties”